Jimbo Fisher, OC at FSU, has accused Saban of stealing offensive signals from the opposing teams while they coached together at LSU. If you saw the AL/FSU game Saturday, you may have noticed that FSU had a blanket or something up to hide their signals.
By the way, Saban is a Bill Bilechek(sp?) guy. Hmmm...........

Kitty

10-01-2007, 03:55 PM

I don't know about Saban, but I did notice yesterday during the Packers/Vikings game that Packers coach Mike McCarthy kept putting his notebook in front of his face when talking into his headset.

Apparently to keep someone from reading his lips?

Bahlk

10-01-2007, 04:38 PM

All coaches have been doing that for awhile (as far as I've been watching) for the reason Kitty said, because somebody on the opposing team will hire a lipreader.

Baloo

10-01-2007, 04:46 PM

That is pretty dang sad when they are all resorting to cheating. What ever happend to integrity and playing fair???

Fish-Bait

10-01-2007, 04:52 PM

That is pretty dang sad when they are all resorting to cheating. What ever happend to integrity and playing fair???

It disappeared right after the ATARI came out.:-D

MDollfus46

10-01-2007, 06:10 PM

That is pretty dang sad when they are all resorting to cheating. What ever happend to integrity and playing fair???

In pro sports, Baloo?:bowrofl:
Actually it's been done for years in baseball. It's an expected part of the game. Stealing signals. That's why catchers keep their masks on when the talk with the pitcher on the mound and the pitchers hold their gloves up to their faces. With an opposing runner on second base, the catcher goes to an entirely different set of signals to keep the man on second from tipping the batter as to what the pitch will be and the location.

aaron

10-01-2007, 06:27 PM

I don't know about Saban, but I did notice yesterday during the Packers/Vikings game that Packers coach Mike McCarthy kept putting his notebook in front of his face when talking into his headset.

Apparently to keep someone from reading his lips?

He's been doing that for a while. I really don't think this is cheating. I think it's strategy. You can't insure someone doesn't try to read your lips if your moving them in front of 100,000 people. These teams should try to improve protection of their signals. I'd even employ faking giving away a play, just so the defense will line up completely wrong.

Kitty

10-01-2007, 07:32 PM

He's been doing that for a while. I really don't think this is cheating. I think it's strategy. You can't insure someone doesn't try to read your lips if your moving them in front of 100,000 people. These teams should try to improve protection of their signals. I'd even employ faking giving away a play, just so the defense will line up completely wrong.

I agree the "covering of one's lips" is strategy. The "reading of one's lips" is the cheating part. :evil:

EricStratton

10-01-2007, 11:07 PM

Stealing signals is as old as the use of signals in sports.....stealing a signal is only about a third of the battle.....now one has to make the right call to defend or exploit the opponent's call, and then, of course, it is up to the players to execute.....an offense or defense usually has about 5 or 10 seconds to do this from the time the signal is stolen, so it's not that easy.....

Now, videotaping a team's signals for later use is another story and could be a huge advantage, since there is no in-game decoding involved.....

I don't feel sorry for Jimbo Fisher.....there are plenty of ways for a coach to keep an opponent from stealing a signal.....